Memoirs of a Cigar

Sunday morning I lit up my last Oliva Series V, the Lancero. Everyone knows that the Oliva Series V are one of the most full flavored cigars made today, and that the Habano Sun Grown Wrapper is the secret behind this amazing cigar. I dared smoking my Oliva Series V first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, and surprisingly it worked out alright.

Being a Lancero, which has a higher wrapper to filler ratio, you really enjoy the flavors of this sweet, flavorfull wrapper. The surprising thing about this cigar was that it was not very strong at all. It was still sweet and full of nuts, coffee and cedar notes, but was soft and balanced with a flawless draw.

The Oliva Series V Lancero, a great cigar, but without that punch to the gut the larger Series V’s can pack.

This Friday night I came home, grabbed a Partagas Black Label and a bottle of VSOP Congac, and headed to the beach. With Black Label firmly in hand, I headed down the road of freedom from the stress of the work week, and planted myself down on a bench along the cliffs to witness one of the most incredible sunsets ever seen at Surfers Beach in Half Moon Bay. With the Moon to my left, Sunset to my right, and nothing but relaxation ahead, I forged on with my weapon of choice; the Partagas Black Label. The dark black cherry scent oozing from the foot of the cigar was intoxicating, so much that I found myself taking deep breaths of it half a dozen times before lighting up.

I was first introduced to the Black Label when a friend brought a box up to our cabin in Tahoe for the weekend. He claimed it was his favorite cigar, and it soon became one of mine as well. I think I have purchased about 4 boxes of them since, which makes them my most purchased cigars.

Amazingly, no Partagas Black Label has ever recieved a 90 point rating by Cigar Aficionado. Scores ranges from 84-88 points, with a 88 point Pyramid being the highest I could find, but I have loved every Black Label I have ever had. Also, I am proud to hand them out to friends on special occasions, as they look spectacular with their dark Sun-Grown Medio Tiempo Maduro Wrappers from the Connecticut Valley, and never has anyone been disapointed. Pyamids, Tubos, Maximos, Gigantes, and Prontos all are excellent smokes in my opinion, and I would go so far as to say they are the best made Partagas Cigars outside of Cuba.

Will’s Cigar Loft & Lounge recently had Rene Sanchez rolling cigars live in the store. Rene Sanchez is a master roller who worked for many years in Havana, Cuba for the Partagas Factory. Rene can essentially roll any size cigar, and seems to do so effortlessly. I saw him make a Partagas #10 sized cigar per a customers request live right on the spot.

Rene also rolls an amazing cigar called the Trifecta, which is made up of 7 different blends of Tobacco, and 3 different wrappers. The cigar starts with a Connecticut wrapper and is amazing from the first puff! The Trifecta then moves into it’s 2nd wrapper, the Sun Grown Sumatra, which busts with sweet honey flavor! The 3rd wrapper on the Trifecta is a full bodied Brazilian Maduro, and it really packs a punch.

I smoked a Trifecta with my friend Felipe, and we were both immediately blown away by the vivid flavors the cigar produced. Being a fresh cigar, that was just rolled, the flavors really popped! Felipe concluded that the Trifecta was the best cigar he had ever smoked in his entire life! I have to agree that the Trifecta is definately one of the best smokes I have ever had too.

I continued to sample Rene’s amazing Just Easy Cigars www.justeasycigars.com and tried a Connecticut Torpedo next. Then I pulled a Trifecta of my own and had my third cigar of the night, a dark and oily fresh rolled Lancero. In fact, Rene smoked a Lancero too, and we talked about the flavors of the Lancero. Rene went on to explain that he can roll 5 different types of Lancero’s depending on the type of wrapper, and how the same applies to all cigar sizes, and how it all quickly becomes too much to count on your fingers.

I ended up purchasing 2 sampler packs of Rene’s fresh masterpieces, which I plan on taking with me to Florida next week and smoking with my friend Pablo. Each sampler pack was made up of 5 cigars of your choice, and went for $50 each. I choose a Maduro Torpedo, a twisted double wrapper Torpedo, a Lancero, a Maduro Salomon, and of course…the Trifecta! I can’t wait to get to Florida, sit at the breakers, and inhale another Trifecta

SCENE 1 – Chloe and I saw Inglorious Bastards at the Kabuki Theater last weekend. Theater 1 at Kabuki allows you to drink bottles of wine while watching the movie on the balcony, so I had a bottle of Champagne. Nice!

SCENE 2 – Inglorious Bastards is Phenomenal! Vivid scenes from the French Countryside, engaging dialog, perfect acting, and spectacular directing. This is Tarantino’s Masterpiece.

SCENE 3 – We then met up with Chloe’s friend Nicole at B44 in San Francisco. B44 is in a cute little alley called Belden Place that has a bunch of good European Style Bistro’s. I have read review’s that claim B44′s Palella is the best in the city, so I had high expectations. We had the Vegie Palella and the Black Squid Ink Palella. The food was good, but honestly the Palella was just ok. I think the Palella, and all the Tapas, at Allegria’s in the Marina is much better.

SCENE 4 – The cigar, the H.Upmann Sir Winston, was fabulous as always. I have had these for almost a year now and they are really starting to show their aging potential. Smooth and balanced, with all the wonderful flavors you would expect from a Cuban Sir Winston. I lit up after dinner while walking down the street, past the new Prada Store, and ended up sipping a Cappuccino at Cafe de la Presse, a fine French Bistro two blocks from Union Square. What a glorious smoke to end the evening.

I tried one of the new Lancero’s from Bering at the beach recently. This Pure Nicaraguan Cigar was just released and so might need a bit more aging. Short story, it was ok, but honestly nothing special.

My New Double Torch Lighter, with 2 built in Cigar Punch’s, for only $16.00. What a deal!

Last Thursday I decided to try a highly praised cigar, that had recently garnered a 93 point rating in a recent edition of Cigar Insider (Cigar Aficionado’s online newsletter). I have tried the Ashton VSG’s before, but I was really excited to try the Spellbound, since it’s supposed to be the best of the line.

The Ashton Virgin Sun Grown Spellbound is a magnificent cigar. It’s comparable to the Padron 1926 in that it’s an amazingly balanced, complex, rich and rewarding smoke.

The Spellbound is a large box pressed cigar, that is perfect from start to finish. It tasted of sweet wood and balanced leather, with some coffee notes and a hint of spice. The really special thing about the Ashton VSG Spellbound is that with the massive flavor it has, it maintains it’s balanced smoothness without being too strong or overpowering. I would say it’s the best Ashton I have ever smoked, and was extremely satisfying.

For my second round of Sunday-at-the-Beach Cigars, I decided to break out my stash of Oliva Serie V’s and perform a little side-by-side comparison. The Oliva Serie V Torpedo I have been aging for almost two years, while the Oliva Serie V Salomon is just a few months old. So not only was I able to compare their sizes, but their aging potential as well. I decided to save the Oliva Serie V Lancero for another day.

The aged Oliva Serie V Torpedo was wonderful. Far from the powerhouse that knocked my socks off a few years ago, as the first in this 5-pack did, this last of the pack was smooth and extremely flavorful. It was still very much full flavored, but instead of its former full strength profile, this aged torpedo sported a balanced finesse, which I had no idea this cigar was capable of. Leather, wood and nuts dominated the palate, with a soft, balanced, sweet cedar aftertaste.

The Oliva Serie V Salomon was much stronger then it’s aged counterpart. Being a Salomon, the large ring gauge did mellow down the strength a bit, and the typical Salomon smoothness was present, but the full flavors of leather, nuts and wood were very much still dominant. The aftertaste were more of a tangy cedar wood, as opposed to the sweet wood aftertaste of the Torpedo.

Another interesting item to note is the different way the cigar wrappers have been wrapped around the similar torpedo tips. They both are meticulously constructed, and both look perfect, but you can see how the Salomon was wrapped at a steeper angle to cover the larger ring gauge near the tip.

I shared my comparison tasting with a few friends of mine, who joined me at the beach for the last of the Champagne Sangria, and the last sunset of the weekend. Two brothers sharing two Oliva Serie V’s, and both thanked me for the amazing smokes. I told them only the best Cigars when you smoke with me.

Saturday night I decided to prepare a pitcher of Sangria for Sunday at the Beach. I decided to mix it up a bit and prepared a Gloria Ferrer Champagne Sangria with Nectarines and Pomegranate Seeds. It came out quite well and added some wonderful flavor to the already outstanding champagne.

Speaking of outstanding, the Partagas 8-9-8 blew me away. This was my first Partagas 8-9-8, and although I was expecting a good cigar, I didn’t expect it to be this good! As you can see, the 8-9-8 is a beautiful looking cigar, with it’s rich brown wrapper. The taste was a perfect balance of earth, leather, coffee and spice, and when I say perfect, I mean Perfect!

I don’t play favorite’s when it comes to cigars, I tell it like it is. And while Cigar Aficionado rated the Partagas 8-9-8 as a 93 point smoke, I beg to differ. I would rate it a 94 point cigar at least.

This Saturday I felt in the mood for some good Pizza, so I Googled “Best Pizza in San Francisco” to see what would come up. I found the top 6 rated pizza joints by Michael Bauer, San Francisco’s leading food critic, and the top 2 in the Bay Area as chosen by Ed Levine, author of Slice of Heaven. I then cross-referenced the two lists, checked online reviews and websites, until only 1 pizza joint remained:

PIZZAIOLO – The Best Pizza In San Francisco!!!  http://www.pizzaiolooakland.com/

PIZZAIOLO means “Master Pizza Chef” in the classic Napoletano style, of which there are only 40 in the world who graduated with this honor from the Official Pizza School in Italy. The chef at PIZZAIOLO is one of them. It means the chef has perfected the art of the perfect pizza dough (made 2 days in advance), the freshest ingredients, and the perfect amount of time in a high temperature brick oven so the outside of the pizza has just crisped, while the inside is still soft and fresh.

We had the Margherita Pizza (which I rated 100 points) and it was phenomenal! I honestly would take a bite and let it just sit in my mouth for as long as I could hold my breath, to absorb all the flavor, similar to when you hold the smoke in while smoking an amazing cigar. I could talk more about the wonderful building and decoration, or the outdoor patio seating and Boccie Ball, or even the Brick Oven and excellent service, but the food is the real story here.

For desert I had a Juan Lopez Special Selection #2. An Amazing Habano, which was in bloom, and lived up to it’s 93 point rating. I guess the Pizza & Cigar combined would be rated 96 or 97 points then, a Classic Meal Rating!

Pizzaiolo…the best pizza this side of the Mississippi!

I recently dipped into my collection of certified vintage cigars that I picked up from JR Cigars, and decided to try one of the two Punch Torpedos I had. Being a Saturday afternoon I opted for the Natural Wrapper as opposed to the Maduro.

The 1998 Punch Grand Cru No. 2 Pyramid is a good looking cigar. The cigar band looks fabulous and the pyramid tip looks like it could put someones eye out. Oh, and it tasted great too. I was very empressed with the woody flavor and the great draw. This is a subtle and smooth cigar, that is mild and satisfying, but it does get a bit acidic toward the final third. I can’t wait to try the Maduro soon to see how it compares.

Friday afternoon I needed to get my mind off of work, so I stopped by Cigar Loft & Lounge in San Mateo and picked up a Rocky Patel Decade Torpedo.

I honestly don’t know how they keep these cigars in stock, they are so dam good! The Decade Torpedo is “The Catch” in my opinion, one of the finest smokes on the market, and probably the most consistent. If you haven’t smoked one yet, please do. They are very similar to the Padron 1926, but at a fraction of the cost.

My buddy Tom called me up while I was smoking and offered me 2 free tickets to the 49ers game later that night, so Chloe and I threw on our Niners gear, and headed out to Candlestick Park. I had a great time, but I couldn’t tell you who won, or even what the score was, as I may of had a few too many drinks. Afterall, it was the first game of the year, so mistakes are to be expected.

The Punch Double Corona and the Cohiba Esplendido are two of the classic big Cuban Cigars. These cigars demand respect, and they get it too, as they are the Big Dog’s of the game.

So my dirty little secret about the Punch Double Corona is that I actually like cutting it in half, and smoking it as two seperate cigars, better than smoking the whole thing in one go.

You still light up the same end of the cigar when you start smoking the first half, but now your sucking on the sweet spot right from the start. This gives you a nice little daytime smoke, that gets right down to business.

The second part, with the cigar band, can then be enjoyed later that evening, perhaps with a nice bottle of wine. You start off by lighting the middle, so again the sweet spot is in full effect from the start.

I know it’s not proper, and might be a little bit ghetto, but that’s how I like my Punch Double Coronas…I’m just keeping it real.

Live Blogging from Will’s Cigar Loft & Lounge in San Mateo!

Today is the Free tasting of the Nestor Miranda Special Selection, and they are offering the Coffee Break size in both the Oscuro and the Rosado Wrapper. Both of these wrappers hail from Nicaragua, and both are unique in that they offer the same strength and have a flavorfull sweetness to them. The Oscuro is the darker, more maduro like wrapper, which I prefer on the larger ring gauge Nestor Miranda Cigars. The Rosado more resembles a Coneticut Broadleaf Wrapper, which I prefer on the smaller ring gauge Nestor Miranda Cigars. I had the Lancero with the Rosado Wrapper a few months ago, and it was fantastic!

I also found out that currently the Lancero only comes in the Rosado Wrapper, but in 3 weeks they are shipping the new Lancero’s in the Oscuro Wrapper too! I guess I’m just gonna have to smoke another Nestor Miranda Special Selection Lancero in a few weeks then…life is tough sometimes.

Everyone I spoke to at the cigar tasting thought the cigars were great! The flavor profile clearly changed at each third of the cigar. The cigar started off fresh and flavorful, toasty and slightly sweet. The middle became more full flavored and offered a more caramel woody taste. The last 3rd became milder, which was a great way to end a cigar, and tasted more earthy with just a hint of sweetness remaining.

Also, check out the picture of Doug below as he showcases the exact moment the cigar changed flavors from the 1st to 2nd third. He would make a great Vanna White, don’t ya think?

You may not consider Ibiza & Dance Music to be a typical Aficionado Hobby, but then you would be wrong. You may be surprised to find out that Ibiza (Clubs) & Cuba (Cigars) have many similarities, making them appear almost as ‘sister islands’.

Mecca:  Ibiza is the mecca of Dance Music /Cuba is the mecca of Fine Cigar’s.

New Releases: The ever changing styles of music coming out of the clubs in Ibiza / The ever changing styles of cigars coming out of the factories in Cuba.

Best Production:  The Best DJ’s in the world mix their newest tracks, and play them in the club / The Best Cigar Rollers in the world blend their newest cigars, and smoke them in the factory.

Island Vibe:  Ibiza is an island in the Mediterranean /Cuba is an island in the Caribbean.

Greatest Brands:  The greatest club brands on earth call Ibiza their home; brands like Cream, Cocoon, Manumission, Made in Italy, Space / The greatest cigar brands on earth call Cuba their home; brands like Cohiba, Romeo y Julietta, Montecristo, Hoyo de Monterrey, Partagas.

Ambassador:  Pete Tong for Radio 1 travels to Ibiza several times a year, and brings news of the latest and greatest tracks to the rest of the world / James Suckling for Cigar Aficionado travels to Cuba several times a year, and brings news of the latest and greatest cigars to the rest of the world.

Obviously I have way too much time on my hands, and like to see how far I can push interesting idea via a marketing blitz.  The honest truth is I love Ibiza & Cuba! They both help me unwind, destress, and enjoy life.  They both have long and storied histories, and they both are constantly innovating year after year.  Also, being an American, it is hard to obtain either (Music from Ibiza/Cigars from Cuba) legally in the states